Rainbow flags representing gay pride were hoisted Monday morning by city workers along the Wabasha Bridge in downtown St. Paul.

Kevin Duchschere, Star Tribune

Gay pride flags fly in St. Paul in advance of marriage vote

Article by: Kevin Duchschere

Star Tribune

May 13, 2013 - 5:20 PM

In anticipation of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Minnesota, Mayor Chris Coleman on Monday morning proclaimed “Freedom to Marry Week” in St. Paul and temporarily renamed a downtown bridge the “Freedom to Marry Bridge.”

“The state of Minnesota is about to write history,” he said in a statement. “Becoming the first Midwest state in the country to legislatively legalize the freedom to marry for all committed couples is an event worth celebrating.”

Visit St. Paul, the city's independent nonprofit convention and visitors bureau, paid the city's cost for the flags and the labor to put them up on the bridge. The estimated cost was about $1,700.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Minnesota Senate approved the bill legalizing same-sex marriage, in the wake of House approval last week.